I'm at a point in my life where I'm wanting more out of life so DH and I decided to write down what our goals are on paper, frame them and have it in our bedroom. I got the idea from "Tori and Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood".. yes I love reality TV... I thought it would be a fun exercise to do instead of watching TV or a movie...

Well, it was harder than I thought.. I didn't know what to put... I really didn't.. I know I want to travel some more (but don't know where), read more, but I felt that I didnt have anything substantial to put down and it got me down a bit....

So I'm looking for inspiration... what do you hope to accomplish in the next 5, 10 years or in your lifetime?

In five years I hope to be living a very creative life with dd (and hopefully other children, in whatever way they come to join our family). Dd will be 10, then, so home schooling will be in the center of our lives in many ways.

By then dh will hopefully be working (he has been a student for a looong time and has years to go, yet). I am looking forward to having a bit more stability by then, although I don't even know what country we will be in.

10 years from now I will start to be too old to have biological kids. By then I suppose I will know what happened and how many kids we will end up raising. I think after all the pain from secondary infertility it will be a relief, in a sense. No more trying and hoping.

So... I don't really have any big plans. Just more of the same, but hopefully we will just be more settled. If we stay in this area, I see us being quite active with old and new friends and some organizations.

Re-paint the walls with marker/crayon creations
Go on a cruise
Visit family in Austria
Finish the basement
Build a deck / remove the kids play equipment
Finish converting all of our books to ebooks (for work)
Continue to work on guitar playing
Perform at a recital

In the next 10 years:

Buy "grown-up" furniture for the living room/dining room
Get a job at DS/DD's school, OR, a full-time roll as a web developer (haven't decided yet)
See DS sucessfully complete G. 8 and start high-school
Learn to play a bow instrument (don't know which yet)
Go on a cruise

I'm afraid I can't help you. I don't have any. The only two I ever had are done. One I achieved (sort of - eventually) and the other one I won't, unless I win a lottery...and I buy a ticket about 2-3 times a year, so I don't think that one's all that likely!

in 5 years:
learn to knit
own a condo/house
have more kids
be working on my masters degree
buy my own car
memorize some of my favorite book
do an easy triathalon
become a better cook
get some of my writing published
grow my hair long
goals for my heart:
try to stop all complaining out loud
try to be less selfish

in 10 years:
have my masters and start my career
have even more kids! hehe
run a 10K race
memorize all of my favorite book
go to another country (i've never been)
heart goals:
wake up early every morning and meditate
seek (and hopefully have earned) more spiritual knowledge

get a new fence for the yard
finish the basement
add an addition to the house (4 season room)
travel to Europe
visit the NW (been to every other corner of the US except the NW)
visit DC
be able to run a 10K if not a 1/2 marathon
become a full time SAHM
become involved in my sons' school - PTA, volunteer
possibly own my own children's consignment store
the only debt I hope to have would be our mortgage

These are my personal 5 year goals. Not sure what DH wants to do. But we share a lot of the same passions in life.

For me:
-knit regularly
-run and train consistently-including a marathon in a great location!
-build up our children's home library. i love children's books.
-go on a mission trip to ethiopia
-adopt a child from ethiopia
-become a stronger christian
-encourage more art in the home
-leave brazil and take on another international teaching position somewhere else in the world
-attend Teacher's College Reading and Writing workshop
-visit Patagonia (this March!)
-watch hubby complete an Ironman Triathlon (better advise him)
-repierce my nose
-buy a cottage in the States as our home base

In 5 years:
RV fulltime folloing dh's work
Sell our current properties
New (new to us) vehicles for dh and probably me
Simplify! simplify! simplify!
Learn to live more green and actually do it!
Work on being more frugal
Home school the kids
Have more kids
Buy property we actually want
Build a house or at least get started

In 10 years:
Aim for sustainability (at least as close as we can get)
Homeschool my kids
Work on spiritual life
Travel with the kids as a family
RV as a family for traveling (not with dh's current job)
Get our life where we want it so dh can be home more
Set up our own little homestead
Finish my own schooling (maybe? I keep having babies and postponing this. Not sure how important it is anymore)

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Oh I see most people are posting dh's goals too... My dh is asleep right now but we stay mostly on the same track so I'd say his goals are probably the same as mine but here are a few things I know he wants to do.

Currently:
Get new truck
Get new rv (so we can all comfortably stay together on the road)
Learn spanish (for work - we are learning together as a family though)

In next 5/10 years:
Sell our current properties
Buy new property (somewhere not yet determined)
Travel as a family
Build/start to build a house
Set up a little homestead
Homeschool the kids
Start his own business or a family business (??? This is something we toss around and are as of yet unsure about)

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Hey mamas,
For those of you who posted goals related to spirituality, I have found that the best way to achieve these types of goals is to pick something very specific that you can do every day. This makes progress. Otherwise, the goal becomes too nebulous and never gets achieved.

Oh yeah.....and goals need to written down (or....I guess typed on mdc)...those who write down their goals are the most likely to achieve them.

Get my PhD (I'm close! 4 more months or so!)
Write a book
Have a Bat Mitzvah (didn't have one at 13... It would be an accomplishment)
Grow my not-for-profit literacy organization
A job of some sort (but I'm leaving this open ended... We'll have to see what life brings along!)

Those things with 2 little kids would be quite enough!

But, I'm the kind of person who always seems to be in a new adventure. My husband will be graduating with his second doctorate in 2 years, so life may change more if we move again.

I've found for me, if I am open, keep my mind sharp, and my heart positive, I never lack for the opportunity to grow. I also am insanely lucky to be married to a wonderful man and we have a marriage that works in a way that we both can live our dreams because we are committed to each other and our family.

This is hard for me to think too much about because in 5 years, my parents will be in their mid 80s and the thought of losing one of them seems almost inevitable in that time frame. My dog will probably be gone too. Plus I will be 45. Ugh.

If I remove all of that and let myself plan for the future, in five years:

No more consumer debt

Back to work doing something fulfilling

Home ownership again

Want to have taken my kids to Europe

Want to have had a wonderful 15 yr anniversary trip - maybe back to Bermuda, where we honeymooned.

sometimes i'm scared to say things out loud. er, on paper. um, i mean, type them unto the internets.

so what i really want is to support myself and my family with my creative work. work from home, sewing/quilting and otherwise making. it seems so impossible that i don't even bother acknowledging that dream, which is certainly the biggest barrier to ever attaining it.